Observations, Assessments, and
Proposals regarding Recent events in the International Church of Christ
Movement

by Kyle V. Degge

13 March 2003

We who follow the ever engrossing saga of the International Church of
Christ Movement, both from without and within its massive walls,
stand in a place never before occupied or seen by human eyes. Its a point
in time, and in the evolution of the Movement, for which millions
have prayed, hoped, and waited, but at the same time, for which very few have
prepared. We have endured years of doubt and discouragement, resigned to the
apparent inevitability that such a time of sobriety, much less repentance,
would never come; yet, here we stand. To witness this moment in time is not
unlike the wonder and thrill at the fall of the Berlin Wall, the disintegration
of the Soviet Empire and its client states, or the dismantling of
Apartheid in South Africa. And, while we know there are humanly rational and
logical explanations for such events in history, as people of faith, and a
biblical world-view, we know Gods hand has moved to destroy and
disintegrate regimes of tyranny and oppression which few, if any, of mere human
insight have anticipated.

While I am in the process of authoring what I hope will be a broad,
comprehensive, and practically helpful book dealing with these things, I
believe the need exists for a relatively brief article simply and clearly
setting forth my observations. Why, you may ask, would your
thoughts and observations be particularly important or relevant? This is
a question I have continually asked myself since God began opening doors for
this ministry over fifteen years ago. Sometime in 1988, I made a commitment to
God to make myself available as a useful resource to help others hurt and
disillusioned by religious tyranny. But along with that commitment came a great
responsibility to persistently seek to be humble, honest, up-to-date, and as
objective as possible. This has always been absolutely necessary if I am to be
of any use to anyone in this holocaust of good intentions gone terribly wrong.
Let him who thinks he stands 

Context

You may or may not be following recent developments through Christian or
secular media, e-mails, Delphi or other online means, phone calls, or other
sources. Regardless, it is undeniable that at long last, both rank and file
members and leaders at all levels within the ICoC are now admitting many of
their sins (both of omission and commission) in such great numbers, and with
such sincerity and determination, I am convinced we are, indeed, witnesses to
the beginning of the end of the Movement as we have known it.
However, what will come out of this mess remains to be seen. It may be better,
but could, in many ways, be even worse. Though this child of the
Stone-Campbell restoration movement can be traced directly from
Gainesville, FL, and the Crossroads Church of Christ, beginning in the early
1970s, until the late 80s, things seemed to be pretty harmless, at least
in the minds of most observers. The real metastasis of the deadly
discipling cancer had a very specific and obvious beginning.

In 1987, the leaders of the Boston Church of Christ, at the bidding of
their lead evangelist, Kip McKean, began raiding and overthrowing
(my words; they called it replanting and
reconstructing) sister congregations which were in league with
them, but not yet subordinate and pledging fealty to McKean and company. Put
otherwise, until that time, these churches were still, basically, autonomous,
and their leaders were still peers. In 1988, McKean maneuvered into the
pope-like role of World Missions Evangelist, thus placing himself
in an apostle-like role, and further refining the unapologetically hierarchical
system he clearly intended to dominate. In 1994 in Manila, his head
trip reached its zenith when he addressed subjects gathered from around
the world in a speech loosely extrapolated from the book of Malachi, declaring
boldly and without flinching,  I am a prophet. In early 1995,
in a little-known speech to his most inner sanctum leaders, Kip further
radicalized the mien of leadership and its definitions in an atrocious and
irresponsible attempt to exposit Matthew 11:12 by declaring preachers and
prophets are to be violent men and violent women in their
preaching, teaching, and leading of churches. He stressed that leaders (1), as
prophets and prophetesses of God (obviously subordinate to the
highest prophet-himself) must employ such violence if they were to
rightly and successfully lead the churches he had placed in their charge(2). By
September 2001, McKeans odyssey was becoming so unraveled and bizarre, he
took a sabbatical in his papal role, and almost exactly one year
later, resigned as the leader of Gods modern-day movement.
Soon thereafter, a unity and governance meeting was convened, and
while the remaining World Sector Leaders clearly hoped to forge
some semblance of order in the midst of their chaos, by most accounts Ive
been able to glean, the meeting was a resounding failure. What has come to pass
is a rumbling, tumbling confederation of tens of thousands of people and
hundreds of congregations in confusion, hurt, anger, and disarray, cut loose
from the moorings to which they have been so harshly driven, and increasingly
ready for revolution. Undoubtedly, there exists as great a potential for even
more evil and harm as for good, and unless people of good faith in any
position to be of help are willing to strike while the iron is hot,
this opportunity for good to prevail may forever be lost, and history will, and
should, be quite unforgiving of our negligence and failure to all give our
very best to be helpful, and part of the solution.

The Letter

Perhaps, if you could read the amazing letter (about as long
as the brief letter of Hebrews!) by Henry Kriete [pronounced like
Crete] entitled Honest to God, you would appreciate the
8.5 magnitude earthquake which has hit the ICoC. Never before has
such divisiveness, such spiritual pornography (their
terminology) been permitted such wide circulation, thorough hearing, or high
regard among the membership of the Movement. While Kriete incorrectly implies
he is the first to so comprehensively catalog the sins of the ICoC, he does,
repeatedly, hit nail after nail squarely on the head in his analysis. And,
there are two words in his tome that give great hope to me. He repeatedly
asserts that these sins are systemic and endemic to the very
fabric and essence of the Movement. For as long as any of us can remember, the
only acceptable attributions as the causal roots of problems and
abuses in the ICoC have been personal sin and inadequate
discipling / training. The fact Kriete has finally confronted these
problems as intrinsic to the root designs and intentions of the Movement
is nothing less than phenomenal, and affords considerable cause to be very
hopeful. If you havent yet seen this letter, its available on web
sites, such as
http://home.earthlink.net/~guyloginin/ICCdocs.html, REVEAL
(click here), and others. By all means, download and
digest it right away!

What does this mean?

I refer you to ten charges I have made against the leadership of the
ICoC for years, first compiled for use in counseling settings in 1994 (3):

I make the following charges against the principle
participants in the formal leadership heirarchy of the International Church
of Christ Movement. I want to stress that several of these are realities of
which many of the rank and file members of the Movement would have
no conscious awareness, though their participation in this system, no matter
how unwitting, serves to support. However, I do charge the formal leaders with
the responsibility for the intentionality and perpetuation of these
offenses.

I charge the top leaders of the ICC Movement with:

Mishandling and distorting (twisting) the Scriptures
and their meanings, with great consistency and persistence, to reinforce their
biased doctrines.

Systematically and deliberately misrepresenting themselves and many
of their ends (i.e., goals and purposes) to both grassroots members and
outsiders.

Offering whats called unconditional love for a
price (i.e., thorough compliance of the would-be convert),
amounting, in net effect, to spiritual prostitution.

As a result of the practice of marketing this conditional
love, painting and promoting a practical picture of God as a
Cosmic Pimp. (This is strong language, but they have done all they
have done, including much abusive behavior, with the bold assertion that God
has sent them out to do it. How would you express that in an
unvarnished way?)

Distorting many facts of their history to dishonestly inflate and
embellish their all-important image (another name for this is
revisionism, and most tyrants and scoundrels in history have practiced
it).

Damaging, or even destroying, the relationships of family,
marriage, and friendship with shocking regularity.

Maliciously attacking the character and reputation of any
critics who dare to take persistent stands even to question them,
not to mention oppose them.

Maliciously denying the legitimacy and reality of other devoted
Christians and churches.

Generally exploiting and manipulating people in these ways
on a consistent, worldwide basis. (In other words, they may not all be the same
in degree, but they are in kind.) And finally,

Refusing almost all repeated, sincere attempts, for many years, to
establish reasonable dialogue re. mistakes that have supposedly
been made (and continue to be made) by ICC leaders.

I fully realize such charges are very blunt, shocking, and, undoubtedly,
offensive to many. For the therapeutic purposes I have employed them, they are
intended to be all three, but they are, above all, the truth, and to almost any
honest member of the ICoC, they are self-evident. Through the years, I
have stressed to those with whom Ive counseled that if these
charges are trumped up or exaggerated, I am the most evil man theyve ever
met; that to dare make such harsh charges against something that is, indeed,
Gods one true modern-day movement would have to originate
from the very bowels of hell. But, Ive further said that if
even some of them are obviously and undeniably true, then there can be no
way people of good faith and character can further ignore, diffuse, dilute, or
equivocate such grave sins.

I submit, now, that Henry Krietes letter, as well as many other
letters of apology currently being penned by leaders of the
International Church of Christ, totally vindicate and affirm the legitimacy of
my ten charges. That these things are systemic and endemic cannot
be ignored any longer, and we stand at a crossroads (no pun intended) of
choosing what to do, now, to make things better (or worse). From this point
forward, we are either part of the problem, or part of the solution.

What must be done?

The fact you are still reading this implies you accept at least some
kind of spiritual and moral responsibility to do more than just lay this
article aside, and walk casually away. Knowledge and awareness intrinsically
imply responsibility. All honest Americans now, since 9/11/2001, realize this
more than ever before. There were hints and bits and pieces of alarming
evidence known to many different authorities prior to 9/11, but because we
were not vigilant as a nation, more than 3000 innocent victims paid the
ultimate price of our national apathy.

In Gods kingdom, it is the same. We have to be wise, continuing to
examine our actions, our attitudes, and our motives, and we must not just throw
up our hands in a sigh of relief and declare, Well, thank the Lord
thats over! Its far from over, dear friends and
brethren, and if we hope to avoid standing in even greater shock and horror at
the rim, so to speak, of a yawning mass grave of shattered faith, lives,
relationships, and futures, we have to keep our wits, now more than ever. We
have to pursue sobriety, truth, and integrity as never before. We must have the
courage to face facts, and utterly commit ourselves to understand how such a
violent, brutal, vicious system of religious machinery came to pass in the
first place. And, especially for those of us in mainstream Churches of Christ
and Christian Churches, facing the realities of what is deeply and
intrinsically rooted in the soil of our own heritage, we must equally commit
ourselves to never have any part or complicity in something so terrible again.

Knowing what to think of events and statements is daunting, to say the
least. There is so much to digest, and since its impossible to know the
motives of others, there will remain some things we simply cannot know. I have
been struggling with both when and what to write about this for
many months. Not wanting to say or write things which would do more harm than
good, I have done my best to remain relatively silent. Only recently has it all
begun to gel for me. The editors of REVEAL have posed four very
good questions (4) regarding ICoC members and leaders as per recent
developments:

Will they continue to use deceptive, coercive tactics, and
psychological manipulation as a means bring people into their fold and to keep
members dependent on the system?

Will they seek the help from mental health and seasoned ministry
professionals and ministers outside of their denomination to help them through
this time of transition and recovery?

Will the leadership make the effort to go to former members whom they
marked and kicked out of the fellowship and apologize?

Will there be a open letter published to the 250,000 (5) former
members and their families apologizing for the abuse and heartache that was
caused by their actions and teachings? (see full article)

While I agree these are great questions, I believe others remain to be
asked, and answered. They would include:

Will Gods people in mainstream churches (i.e., the
larger church of Christ, universal) open our eyes and offer any and
all needed resources (human, material, and monetary) to make help available
to confused, wounded, bleeding souls stumbling in a fog of confusion,
disillusionment, and despair?

Will those of us who enjoy the light and warmth and fresh air of
freedom in Christ click our tongues and turn our backs, or will we stand in
sobriety, compassion, and empathy, and look at this movement as a solemn, stark
model of what can happen to any well-intentioned cause that loses Jesus as the
focal point? (But for the grace of God, there go we ) Will we be glib and
condescending, or instead, gracious, long-suffering, and willing to even be
wounded in our efforts to minister to those around and near us needing our
help?

Will we, especially in mainstream Church of Christ and Christian
Church congregations, preacher training schools, seminaries, colleges, and
universities, finally take a long, hard look at ourselves, and realize just how
much like the ICoC, in kind, if not in degree, many of us have been?
Will we truly re-examine our most basic philosophies, paradigms, and
priorities? Will we be as humble as Kriete and others in the ICoC about facing
and confessing our own historical weaknesses, failings, inclinations,
appetites, and sins?

Will we, especially in mainstream Church of Christ and Christian
Church congregations prepare, pray, and brace ourselves for the sobering
reality that, while we are not the only churches refugees will turn
to for help, we are, logically, among the first places theyll look?
Knowing that, will we examine our hearts and plan in advance to receive them
with gentleness, compassion, humility, mercy, and perhaps most important of
all, a willingness to listen to them, without judgment or unearned
familiarity, and not say such unhelpful things as, You just need
to  or I know just what youre talking about 
or I just dont understand how someone so intelligent could get
involved in this ? Will we allow God to teach us how to let those
who truly need to talk find a loving heart, a listening ear, relatively
few knowing words, and a gentle reassurance that I may not
totally understand, but I know God does, and I believe youre going to be
alright, in time ?

Will we fall into acting like elder brothers, or soberly
realize we are but fellow pilgrims, also on a long and ever surprising journey
of discovery and life and light as we all seek to follow and be molded by our
Master, Jesus?

I wish I could say I know the answers to these questions, and others
that need to be asked, but, alas, I do not. For over fifteen years, I have
traveled hundreds of thousands of miles, in almost every state in the U. S.,
and in several foreign countries, appealing to people of faith everywhere I go
to make ongoing commitments to prepare for this day as if it would come.
Ive often felt like I was beating my head against a brick wall! We, in
the Christian community at large, have not been willing to commit ourselves to
such preparation because we have lacked an adequate understanding of the
gravity of this problem, as well as the foresight to see what a great need
almost certainly lay ahead. Now, we know its certain, but were
profoundly unprepared.

We casually stand, today, with our hands in our pockets, very little
aware of the countless thousands of anguished, bleeding souls all around us. We
lack any meaningful strategy or commitment of resources to be of much use.
Whether its too late to respond, now, I do not know. But, I believe with
all my heart we must, even at this late hour, give our all to try. Will we make
the most of this amazing and unprecedented opportunity, or, in the end, be
guilty of the worst kind of apathy and irrelevance? Only time and deeds will
tell.

Here am I; send me

Since God delivered me from the tyranny of this movement in 1987, I have
come to love the picture of the prophets conversion to humility in Isaiah
6. For five chapters before, Isaiah readily takes up the mantle of being
the prophet, and again and again, cries out against the sins of
Israel with the words, Woe to you  Then, in chapter 6,
its as if (as I see it) God says to Isaiah, Isaiah, would you come
to my office for a few minutes? There, in the year that King Uzziah
died, Isaiah saw the Lord. Youre, most likely, familiar
with this story, but by way of reminder, the upshot of it is, after being
driven to his face in Gods presence (which happens to all who truly
encounter the presence and majesty and glory of God), he cries out, Woe
to me; for I am ruined a man of unclean lips among a people of
unclean lips. And you know the rest. God stands him up, dusts him off,
and as if he puts his arm around Isaiah in partnership, asks, Whom shall
I send, and who will go for Us? Then, apparently, without hesitation,
Isaiah answers, Here am I. Send me.

It was sometime during 1988 when the Lord burned this burden for others
like myself, sincerely and thoroughly caught up on the vortex of youthful zeal
and misguided appetites, into my broken and bleeding heart. At that time, I was
deep in my own wilderness of recovery from my nightmare-sojourn into the
Boston Movement. Almost everything I thought I had known,
for certain-for sure-had been challenged, questioned, or shattered beyond
repair. How could I have been so wrong? How could I
have become part of something that does so much harm to the weak,
innocent, and truly humble? How did I ever get from where
Ive been to where I now am?

There were only three things, at the genesis of my recovery, which I
could not deny, and thus, still knew for sure: 1) there is a God; 2) Jesus is
the Son of God; 3) the Bible is Gods revelation of himself and his will
in human language. Beyond those three things, I could not be certain. I was
very fortunate. Many hundreds I have met through the years were no longer even
certain of those things once they were blown out the tailpipe of
the ruthless machinery of this system.

God rescued me, my shattered wife, my precious children, and happily,
many of our fellow pilgrims from the bondage in which we were ensnared. I
learned and lived the experience of Isaiah, in that most of my life, I had been
very quick to point a bony finger of judgment at those around me, and utter
Woe to you  for all their flaws, failings, and errors. Now, I
realized I had been just as wrong and just as deserving of
judgment as anyone I had ever condemned. I answered the call God placed
upon my heart at that time, and said, God, please use me to help anyone,
any time, anywhere who needs to be helped by the things youve shown, and
continue to show, me. God answered that petition by forging from the
worst decision I made in my life (i.e., to align myself with the
Movement in the first place) a ministry which has taken me to never
before imagined places and people for the purpose of service and ministry. Only
on rare occasions has my phone and e-mail fallen silent for long in these
fifteen-plus years, but this is so much larger than any one man.

I am willing, now more than ever, to go anywhere, any time, to help
anyone possible, but I cannot do it alone. I am attempting to make contacts
with people of good will within the ICoC to make offers to come in and help. I
dont, at this moment, know where that will lead, if anywhere, but I am
fairly certain my offers wont be accepted everywhere. Even if they were,
I cant go everywhere! I believe two things are needed to maximize any
impact I, and any who wish to work in partnership with me, can have:

Church leaders and other interested individuals in any city in the
world where the ICoC has an outpost are needed to organize venues and
schedule times when I, and others capable of helping, can come and conduct
extensive and intensive workshops and seminars to advance understanding and
healing as soon as practically and humanly possible.

Those interested in receiving training as to how best help people in
this maze of confusion should take a crash course in how this
ministry is done, and then take needed steps to open hearts, lives, and doors
to refugees and other confused, wounded persons needing your help.
The only thing worse than doing nothing with people so affected is to plunge
in, without deliberate training and preparation, and fly by the seat of
your pants.

I am here, and willing to be sent, but Im only one guy. There are,
certainly, others with considerable and qualified experience in this arena of
ministry, but most of them have moved on to other things. If
thats what the Lord is calling them to, God bless them, but if some are
similarly burdened with this need of the moment, then now is the
time, more than ever, to gird up your loins, and prepare for this battle.
One more thing we can know for sure: Satan wont be idle in his schemes to
insure the destruction of every ICoC member he can possibly accost.

But, can I really make a difference?

If you want to help, there may, very well, be opportunities literally
staring you in the face. If you dont quite know what to do, Ill
help you in any way I can. Most people familiar with both the Movement and my
ministry tell me, that, given my extensive experience ministering to this
problem, I have important contributions to make. With that knowledge,
experience, and ability comes great responsibility, and Im ready to step
forward and do my very best. The rest is in Gods hands.

Further, over Memorial Day Weekend, beginning Thursday evening, May 23,
and continuing through Monday morning, May 26, I will host whosoever
will come to Highland, IL for the first of several training meetings to
prepare those wanting to understand and equip to join in this urgent ministry.
I anticipate that this meeting will be an opportunity for much mutual
instruction and encouragement, humility, healing, and worship. There will be
intensive Bible study, role-playing/skills training, panel discussions, and
small group exercises. Through it all, I believe we can establish a prototype
for additional training weekends in months to come, and further into the
future. This will not only have relevance to the ICoC, but will be applicable
to ministry to all destructive, control-obsessed groups and
relationships.

I would offer that sooner, but anticipate being quite busy between now
and then, with my local ministry, other ministry opportunities, and with
completion and publication of my book. My goal is to have the book completed in
time to be available Memorial Day. Please pray for me, for everyone everywhere
attempting to minister to this mess, and most of all, for the many tens of
thousands of members of the International Church of Christ who desperately need
help, healing, and answers to their burning questions and urgent needs.

One last thing

Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, Immanuel, came to seek and save
that which was lost in just such a time as this. The corrupt, pious,
oppressive and abusive system of the Pharisees was in shambles, but still
desperately lashing out and thrashing those who dared challenge its primacy or
authority. Even those who had been crushed by its tyranny were reluctant,
fearful, confused, and more than a little groggy from a lifetime of living in
the haze and maze of its legalistic corridors. But, Jesus came anyway. He
fought a tireless, frustrating, thankless battle for the freedom of the human
spirit, to restore us back to the liberty and dignity of our Eden
estate. And they hung him on a cross.

Will we ask the question, now, What would Jesus do? and
allow the question to be more than a cliché, but instead, a compelling
principle in our allocation of help and aid to the countless refugees needing
to find the healing love, grace, and mercy of Jesus extended from and among his
people? Are we, like Jesus, willing to suffer greatly for the sake of the
nobility of shining the light of freedom in the darkest of corridors-that of
empty, futile religion? Are we, like Jesus, willing to do good, just
because its the right thing to do, and even if those we help never
attend our services, give their money, or integrate into our fellowship. Will
we do good for its own sake? Will we ? May God bless us all as we seek
ways to help, striving to do as little harm as possible, and find out the
answers to these questions. Father, glorify your name.

1 The term leader in the ICoC
applies to everything from the most menial leader of a small group study all
the way up to the leader of the Movement, as McKean grew fond of
calling himself.

2 It is axiomatic in the ICoC that no one
is entrusted with any significant role of leadership (i.e., salaried) if McKean
doesnt want them there. In this system, no one is simply called by God,
and obedient to that call. Either youre called by higher
leadership, or not at all.

3 For more elaboration, clarification, or
to inquire of the nature of the evidence on these charges, feel
free to contact me, or better still, read all about it in the book I will soon
be publishing.

4 See Reveal.org

5 There are actually many more than this;
somewhere between three quarters of a million and a million former members,
alone. When we add all collateral relationships to that, the
staggering number of victims ranges into the millions.